Tin Man Triathlon Relay

On Wednesday, Tyler, my new boss, asked me if I wanted to do the 5k run portion of a triathlon relay this weekend. I said sure and started trying to estimate a 5k time. My best guess was that I could go sub 18 minutes if I put together a great day. My plan was to go out 6:30/ 6:00/ 5:30 and come in right around 18 minutes. I had run the course before and new it was quick with a quality field of runners, both 5k and triathletes, to push the pace.
5:20 this morning my alarm goes off and I dress and head out to Cal State San Bernardino. It's funny, but when I wake up that early to exercise I always feel like I am one of the few committed crazies out there. That myth is frequently shattered and no more than today when I showed up and hundreds of people were already on-scene. Two things hit me pretty quickly as I got out of my car and walked over towards registration in search of my relay partners. First, this race has grown A LOT since I did it 4 years ago. And, second, the triathlete community is way more type-A crazy than the ultra-distance crowd. I know this, but was reminded of it as I watched all sorts of warm up routines and the parade of the newest gear. People jockey for the best place on the start line ( me included) and the energy is palpable at the start of a race like today. Nervous chatter abounds as everyone deals with nerves in their own manner. Ultra distance races, on the other hand, are way more mellow at the start gate.

Here's how the race unfolded. Right before the starting gun, Tyler pointed to a guy in a Triathlon singlet and told me to pace off of him (he would end up placing 3rd overall- more on that later). I saw an old friend Kylie Donia at the start and we had a brief conversation before the gun sounded, as we did  I was reminded of many of the friends in this fairly tight-knit community that I hadn't seen in a while.

The gun sounded and I was able to make my way through the traffic without much effort- including the 60+ year old, out of shape couple that pushed their way in front of me because they "wanted to feel what it was like at the front of the start line and would only be there for a few minutes". Arghhh..... get out of my way before I am responsible for straight-arming you to the ground and watching people trample you. Back to the race.... I look down at my watch about 1/2 mile in and it say 5:20/ mile pace.... not where I want to be, but I am trying to sit on the hip of the guy in blue that I was told to shadow. I stayed with him until about 1.25 miles and simply couldn't anymore at that point. Frustrated, I let him go and decided to run my own race.
1 Mile down and I am looking at close to a 6:30 pace. Exactly what I had hoped for but it was hurting more than I would have liked it to and I knew that wasn't going to be good.
Mile 2 hurt and so did mile 3. Blue guy was still in sight, but not within reach and I am wondering how they can design a course that is a loop and still mostly uphill. Logic tells me that it should be about equal, but maybe I was just paying too much attention to the effort. I never found a relaxing stride during this race, neither in my breathing or legs and I can usually do so in the 6-7 minute/ mile range. Not so today. I haven't done any speedwork since my surgery and today that fact was on full display.
I ran into transition, glad to pass the timing chip to Tyler, and breathed a sigh of relief ( after 5 or so minutes of huffing an puffing) that my part was over. I knew Tyler would match my effort on the bike and our swimmer ( who's name escapes me right now ) would do a good job and sure enough they did.
I am fairly certain that we won the relay category ( not that there were a ton of people in that category).
I was disappointed in my run time, but upon further reflection, I shouldn't be considering my lack of speedwork.
All in all, it was a fun day and it was good to see some old friends ( Coach Tony, Sinta, Kylie, Mike, and Barry). Tinman is a good race. It could use a few improvements like a bike dismount area and  better control of the transition area so that non-competitors are not in there free to take a $10,000 bike. But it has grown into a fun race with a competitive field that is worthy of your efforts and the monies go to the Rotary club that puts it on.

Splits
Mile 1   6:24:11 Avg HR 185
Mile 2   6:48:70 Avg HR 190
Mile 3   6:39:13 Avg HR 193
Mile .1  1:06:06 Avg HR 198

Total 5K Time 20:50

Announcing a new goal

I train a million times better when I have a goal or better yet an event that I am training for. It is too easy to blow off workouts and find reasons not too workout if I don't have some "death defying" event coming up. So with that in mind, I am announcing here and now ( and it's actually a bit scary to even type this) that I am returning to the Northface Endurance Challenge 50k run in San Francisco on December 4th. I attempted this race a couple fo years ago but had to pull out at mile 19 because of a knee problem ( this would later be the same knee that I ruptured my ACL- so we now think it was fairly well blown in that race). So, I've got some unfinished business with this run. And for better or worse, I now know what is ahead of me on this run, and it is brutal. My Garmin told me I had  already climbed 7,000'+ feet when I pulled out at mile 19 if that gives you any indication of how tough this will be. Below is a video taken on the course that shows just how beautiful the course is.


I am very excited to go back and finish what I started and even more so I am excited to have an event on the calendar again. I will keep you updated on how the training is going and I'll be using Training Peaks Software to log all the details.

For anyone who is considering it, there are a number of other distances that day as well. There's a 50 mile, 50K (32 miles), Marathon, Marathon Relay, Half Marathon, 10k and 5k, and a Kid's Run. Join us if you'd like. We can train together virtually or physically as suffering is always funner in groups.

Super Proud of My Amazing Wife

So, Yvette got a call from some girls that she has been running with and some friends of theirs needed a runner for a Ragnar Run team that they had put together ( http://www.ragnarrelay.com/ ). This is a 200 mile non-stop run that goes from Ventura to Dana Point. She was running in a team of 12. Her 3 legs would total a little over 13 miles and she would get her first chance at night running, starting one of her 4 mile legs at 12 am through Van Nuys. She traveled with a group of 6 girls in a van for about 24 hours in order to do this and she knew none of them before the race. I was totally stoked for her and at the same time a bit jealous of the fact that I wasn't racing. Mostly though, I was just happy that she has gotten into endurance racing and enjoying the camaraderie that those events offer.

We followed her race on her Facebook posts and set out to pick her up on Saturday morning after her last leg of her run, a 4.9 mile jaunt through Wilmington at 7 m in the morning. She said she got to see more than one homeless sketcher just crawling out of their box to glare at her as she ran.
We picked up one happy and tired girl ( she only slept about 2 hours all night) on Saturday morning and put her blood soaked shoes into the car ( she forgot to cut her toenails so they cut into her feet) and took her to a well deserved lunch at Mimi's Cafe. She excitedly told us the stories of her adventure while we ate and drove home. Once home, she crashed out on the floor next to our 3 year old as both took a much needed nap.
I laced up my shoes and headed out for a run, filled with the excitement of her adventure. I headed out on an old loop that I used to train on that leaves my house and goes straight up for 2 miles before a slight reprieve then more climbing through the Etiwanda Wilderness Trail. I had to do the small loop in order to be home in time for showers before Family Mass at our church.
The details of my run are in the link at the bottom of this post. It ended up being 7.25 miles and I had a stupid high average heart rate, but all in all it was a great run.

A special congratulations goes out to Yvette and her "Big Rig" team. Great job love. I am super proud of you.

1st race of the season

Here's my report from yesterday's PossAbilities Sprint Distance Triathlon.
The race started the night before with packing up 2 cars for th race. Since I had to leave early enough to arrive at the race both as a participant and advertising rep for my advertisers that had sponsored the race, Yvette decided she would bring the kids and my mom later in a separate car. So I packed my stuff for the race and Isabella's stuff for her race (which she decided not to do on race morning).
I woke up race morning at 4:15 ate my chicken noodle soup which has become my race day and large workout day breakfast because of the huge amount of sodium in it. I got this tip from an Ironman friend of mine who said it keeps you from cramping, and I agree, it does.
Left my house at 5 am and headed over to pick up Doug and his daughter Natalie. Doug did the bike portion of a triathlon relay and Natalie ran a 10k in just over an hour.
Everything went well in race prep. Special thanks to Dan and Ron at Foothill Cyclery (www.foothill-cyclery.com) for the loan of an awesome wheelset. Some day I may break down and invest the $1500 for that wheelset, but until I do, the race day loan form these guys is much appreciated.
I got in a good warm up run and waited for the horn to sound.
Horn blast and we're off. Within the first couple hundred meters of the run a friend of mine who owns King Leo Candy (www.kingleocandy.com) named Pierre (47 yes old) says, "Hey Chris is that you?" We chatted for a few seconds while we both still had the ability to talk before we got too winded. I had a great 5k run. I knew Pierre was right behind me the whole time and there was some 10 year old kid right in front of me that should be on the TV show That's Incredible, because he was half my height and had almost an identical length stride. Who over he is, he has a future in sports if he decides to stick with it because I came in top 30 on the run and he was right in front of me.
Quickly through transition and out onto the bike. I picked up a couple of spots in transition ( I saw the 10 year old out on the course much later) and almost immediately picked up a couple of spots out on the course. Pierre was still behind me but since the course looped and I could see him, I knew he was close. Each loop included a 1/4 mile climb of a pretty good hill. On the second loop we started passing through lapped traffic. I got slowed up a couple of times because the slower folks didn't know to stay right. On the second climb of the hill, I feel Pierre grab the back of my seat to help me up the hill a bit. His kind way of saying "I'll be going by you now" without saying a word. I raced the rest of the bike trying to keep him in sight and not get passed by anyone else. I had success in both of those. I'd love to know the bike split so I can figure out my average MPH, but I know we were moving pretty fast.
Dismount the bike and almost dump it going into transition when my legs turn to jelly on me. Rack the bike and start the long run to the pool. I jump into the pool and my arms won't work right. The swim is only 5 laps of the pool. My average workouts are 60-100 laps non-stop, so this should be a breeze. But the effects of redlinning my body for the last 50 or so minutes catch up and the swim is awful. I've got a guy breast stroking next to me that I can't seem to pass. I lost at least 2 places in the pool. Up out of the pool and sprint to the timing mat for a time of 1.01:39. That puts me 5th in my age group (30-34) and 30th overall amongst a pretty tough field that included about 10 pros. I felt really good about the race and my placing. Chatted with Pierre afterwards and if I had swam better, I might have caught him. He finished in 1:01:17. Good times.

Thanks to all of my friends and family who came out to race and cheer. In the middle of a race, I hear people shout my name but I rarely see anyone. This race I did manage to see a lot of you out there and it helps a lot. Thanks.

Next Race, May 20th- World's toughest Half Iron-man distance race. This will be a whole different type of racing. No redline heart rate hear, just a long day.